Tempus ad Reclaimer
by zekebomb
Summary: John rests in a Crypod as Humanity lives on. How will things change when he awakes?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Arg I still getin use to this site. Anyways due to some good arguments I rewrote the chapter and hope that it helps. However one review irked me. Someone was complaining that I used a wing suit instead of a Jet Pack but seriously if you are jumping from 15,000 meters and want to used a Jet Pack that is fine; however, Im not going to be to one to clean up the bloody smear you turn into. On a simi-unrelated note I need a new beta reader since mine is going to be away till September.**

**As always with care,**

**zekebomb**

Chapter One - Loss

John jumped from the side of the M-96 War Hawk with a wing suit attached to hard points on his armor. He spent the first 5,000 meters in free fall at terminal velocity. At 10,000 meters John deployed his wing suit gliding silently to the ground at break-neck speeds. At 1,000 meter from the ground John rolled to the side and did a summersault now his feet and back where facing the ground at a 45 degree angle severely slowing his decent to a now survivable fall. John glanced at his altimeter, 100 meters. Finally at 50 meters John disengaged the wing suit as it fluttered away like a butterfly. The Jiralhanae on the plasma artillery looked up only to get a half ton spartan to the face. As the corpse fell his purple blood and brain matter fired up in a fine mist coating the Kig-Yar. Rolling forward and coming up in a full sprint John dropped two thermite/fragmentation grenades at the Kig-Yar feet. John punched his toes into the ground and leaped off the artillery piece.

Landing in a combat crouch and drawing his Superior Combat Assault Rifle. John spotted two more Jiralhanae readying plasma rifles. John shot crimson lances of hard light at them carbonizing their flesh. The Jiralhanae let out a final howl of agony before falling to the muddy ground of South America. As John stood up two muffled pops and then a third louder bang is heard. John spun on his heel to watch the artillery piece fall in flames.

John radioed in "Admiral Hood the last gun is clear."

"Copy that, everyone this is Admiral Hood you heard the man give 'em hell!"

John looked up to see 13 ships of the Orion Arm Alliance blitzkrieg rush to engage the 20 ships of the Neo-Covenant Crusaders. Pale gold lances and MAC rounds from the OAA collided with the super heated plasma of NCC. John watched as the shields from both sides buckled and fell. Several supersonic fighters did flybys on the NCC space craft unleashing a hail of hyper sonic slugs that shredded the hulls and super frame before exploding in a hard light charge causing massive structural damage to the ships. It was now 10 OAA ships verses 15 NCC ships or so everyone thought before 30 more NCC ships dropped out of slip space behind the OAA ships. John only shook his head, he had seen this tactic before at the fall of Mars. John remembered how the NCC turned Mars from a lush world into a barren red wasteland of ugly scars and craters.

John looked over to see an armored column drives up towards him. The driver of the M-32 Hover Grizzly jumped out calling to John "Need a lift?" John jumped 5 meters up into the Grizzly and started up antimatter core that everything ran off of now. John sat in the seat as his neural implant connected to the computer and fed information to his HUD. The company commander said over COMs "We are heading 10 klicks northeast to relieve a group of spartan IV's, you lead the way."

John looked out the view screen at the area that used to be the Amazon rainforest but now thanks to the war it was a burnt, bulldozed, muddy stretch of land. The Master Chief pushed forward over the usually rough terrain that was made smooth by the anti-gravity pods and blew through the light resistance. Well what was light resistance for an armored column and a M-32. John just watched with grim satisfaction as jackals where turned in to brilliant flashes of light and flying body parts, sniper towers where rendered unto ash and Wraiths exploded into brilliant flashes of vivid blue plasma.

John sighed as he heard the steadily increasing pitter-patter of rain fall on the canopy of the Grizzly. He had spent to much in his armor and away from his wife. Hell he had stent to much of his life in war. He had realized that years ago when he got his promotion and a desk job.

At about 1 klick away he saw a series of Wraiths relentlessly bombing an overturned Warthog yet failing to hit anyones as well as Kig-Yar sniping with Beam Rifles. An Sangheili as well as two Unggoy step around the Warthog and fired upon the Wraiths with Fuel Rod Cannons and Relentless Assault Machine Guns. Cobalt Lances and vivid lime green blobs reached out, dropping shields and wilting armor. The elite jumped back into cover in time but the grunts weren't so lucky as they got caught in a Wraith plasma bomb, vaporizing their flesh and detonating the methane tanks, amplifying the already big explosion.

"Open fire!" screamed the commander as the armored column rained the fury of hell its self on the NCC forces. The sound of hyper accelerated hard light charges and Coilless Heavy Guns filled the air as well a sizzling of the rain being vaporized as yellow streaks and cobalt lances whisked by. The smell of ozone gave the small pocket of OAA the resolve to hold their heads up high as 10 meters in front of their warthog became a killing ground as Wraiths melted and jackals vaporized leaving a few carbonized skeletons and a blackened crater.

The elite that jumped out before walked up to the Grizzly as the John gave the controls back to the original driver. The elite shouted over the rain "Reim'Vadom of the first spec ops division." John asked "How many left?" "Just those Humans over there" Reim said as he pointed over his shoulder at the Warthog. Chief just nodded slowly as he didn't see his wife Kelly with them, however a Spartan IV walked over Chief and shook his head.

Chief took a moment to grieve over the loss of his wife and the rest of blue team as Fred and Linda where KIA on Mars. As he was grieving someone screamed air strike and 10 Seraph fighter flew over head as they dropped tumble charges of violet death. Muscle memory took over as John grabbed Reim and sprinted to the overturned Warthog and slid to a stop. The Warthog exploded and John's world faded to black.

"Alert all units pull back, I repeat all units get off Earth I am initiating a scorched Earth tactic, this is Admiral Hood and this message will repeat."

John's world came back to him as a blurry mess the alert message played on loop as well as a timer counting down from 10:00:00. John shut off the message and checked his tac-map for a CASTLE site there was one about half a continent away. John cursed his now bad luck and checked for Riem but he was nowhere to be found.

John ran off to the site at 55 kilometers an hour but was confused, why was Admiral Hood calling for the nuking of Earth? Seemingly to answer his questions the hammer of the NCC came falling down. Wraiths and Ghosts seemed to spawn from the ground, Banshees blocked out the sun and NCC ships poured out all types of troops. John cursed himself once again for his bad luck. Then John realize that the CASTLE site was still far away and John didn't have time to run completely there. This was a blessing as he jumped and landed on top of a Ghost's anti-grav wing. The Jiralhanae driver looked up in surprise as John roundhouse kicked him in the beasts ugly mug and took control of the Ghost.

As John speeded off towards CASTLE when his motion sensor blipped out a warning, there was a Banshees on his six. John pulled a hard right as he felt his skin blister under the heat of the super-heated projectiles coming his way. John started to chaotically as the plasma bolts got closer no matter what he did. Then what John saw made him slow into Spartan time as a Banshee flew over head arced up in the air and faced him. A fuel rod cannon was shot and John jumped.

The fuel rod's explosion arced him farther into the air. John reached out as far as he could and his fingers felt the slightest brush of metal. His hands clamped down like a vise and stressed the metal and his momentum swung him upwards and he landed on the Banshee's wing. John punched the ejection rune on the side of the cockpit and the gigantic metal hatch flew up, revealing a 'smiling' Jiralhanae with a plasma grenade. John just sighed as he grabbed the big meaty hand and made him thumb the activation rune, and promptly shoved in into his mouth melting flesh and bone. John just shoved the Jiralhanae out of the Banshee and took his place.

John speeded off once again this time, though oddly unopposed. John then eyed the timer in the corner of the hood 05:03:16.

At 00:05:10 John could see the base. He reached out with his neural implant and started the handshake and welcoming procedure. At 00:04:30 the door started to slowly open and the Banshee started to drop, and not to Johns will. At 00:04:00 the doors where open and John slipped pass and crashed and the anti-gravity failed. John started to shut the doors. 00:03:30 the doors shut and sealed creating a tomb of Concrete and Titanium C. John stepped on the elevator and hit the next floor down. 00:00:15 John stepped off elevator and walked through the halls of CASTLE site SA - 43. 00:00:00 at 14 kilometers below the surface all John heard was a faint series of thumps as well as a minor earthquake.

John shut off all non-essential power and set it to come back online at the appearance of either Human or Sangheili DNA. After that John had a luxurious 10 minute shower with hot water and ate an MRE of what was suppose to be fried chicken. After that John stepped into the Cryo Bay and prepped one pod for himself.

John dragged in a desk and put on the desk a picture of him with Kelly and a calendar and set the current date, 2675. After that be tagged them to his biometrics and deactivated his GEN 10 powered assault armor and put it on an armor rack and manually sealed it. He looked back at the sleek gray armor and his black under suit and remembered at that was lost: 400 worlds, 2 trillion lives, his wife and blue team. Finally John stepped into the cryopod and closed the glass lid as a frost swirled around him and the nanites in his body went into sleep mode. John felt his eyes droop as he remember the times that he and Kelly shared both as kids, Spartans and lovers. John loved Kelly and now his life was emptier without her. John finally drifted into sleep.

The computers printed one last thing on his cryopod, Rear Admiral John 117.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N I have rewritten parts of this chapter to make more sense and to flow better with chapter three. Also to be noted I have found a beta and expect CH. 3 Awakening in a week or so if things go well.**

CH. 2 Gain

Citadel

"Commander Shepard - step forward," said Tevos the Asari councilor in a demanding voice "It is the decision of the council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel."

"Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file," spurted off Valern in an abnormally slow speech for a Salarian, even if he was councilor.

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will."

Shepard was starting to wonder if the damned racist Sparatus was going to say...

"Spectres bear a great burden. They are the protecters of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold," said Sparatus, the Turian councilor.

'Never mind,' thought Shepard

"You are the first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species," said Tevos

"I'm honored, Councilor," said Shepard. What Shepard didn't know that even farther out then the Council Chamber her voice was heard, some good and some evil.

"We are sending you into the Traverse after Saren. He's a fugitive from justice, so you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him," declare Valern

"Any idea where to find him?" asked the first human spectre

"We will forward all relevant files to Ambassador Udina," spat Sparatus

'Great,' thought Shepard 'I'm going to hate one of my bosses.'

Once again Tevos saves the day "This meeting of the council is adjourned."

Shepard just bowed her head and turned to Udina only to see Anderson jump in front of him.

"Congratulations, Commander," he said

Udina just raised a hand to his chin thoughtfully "we've got a lot of work to do, Shepard. You're going to need a ship, a crew, supplies..."

"You'll all get access to special equipment and training now. You should go down to the C-Sec Academy and speak to the Spectre requisitions officer," said Anderson noting the place she should go.

"Anderson, come with me. I'll need your help to set this all up," Udina demanded more then asked

Wrex just snorted "Hmph! Bastard didn't thank you."

"Now you know why me and Ash hate politicians," Shepard said with a smile while Wrex just grinned at the remark.

"I'm right behind you Shepard," Tali, a fellow tech head, said.

Dig site on Therum

'Come on,' thought Liara 'Just a few more hours and you will know the answer.' But she couldn't wait, this ruin was so different from the Prothean ruins she had visited before. The walls seamed to pulse and change with the movement of her thoughts, not even the Protheans where this advanced and this ruin also had another thing weird about it. A survivor.

Liara just shook her head and once again tried to get in but it seemed that the system kept evolving to every intrusion making it even more difficult to open. Liara groaned 'It was not this hard to get the power on' she thought.

Her dig team had left her after a few reports of a ghastly purple woman walking the halls. Liara was stronger and while others abandoned the site she stayed, thinking she was safe.

This was when the Geth poured in. Liara yelped when a piece of fragmentation from the wall exploding ripped through her leg. In her confusion she mashed four seemingly random buttons and the door whooshed open.

Liara didn't care as she lounged into the room and the door slammed shut behind her with a loud clang. As Liara felling she remembered why she wanted to enter this room. This room had the survivor in it. Liara applied medi-gel to her leg as she surveyed the room. It was unusually barren with large 10 foot tall tubes leaning against the wall. Only one thin stood out, one of the pod had a desk against it and was frosted over with spiderwebs of ice.

Liara rose shakily to her feet and walked over to the tube and lashed her hand across the ice covered pod and immediately pulled away because of shock, both kinds. In the tube was a male, a pale human male and the glass covering sent an electrical bolt down her spine from her hand. What happened next shocked her even more.

The purple female that everyone ran from was real and she appeared in front of the pod. She looked archaic as she changes forms. What started as a nude purple female changed into something more lifelike. She turned into a white human female with slightly rosy cheeks and had eyes that where a bright vivid blue. Stark white robes appeared and flowed around her slim body. A stone tablet appeared in her hand that had writing engraved on it that changed text every 1.15 seconds.

Liara gasped as she realized what this was, an AI! However she was perplexed even more when the AI raised her hand and lifted Liara off the ground.

"Salve, Helenae nomen meum. Transgrediendi estis in finibus nostris. Statim noscendas vosmetipsos!" It said. Liara just shook her head and hoped the understood that she didn't understand.

The AI cocked her head and glared at her then spook again "Hola, mi nombre es Helen. Uste está invadiendo nuestro territorio. Identificar a sí mismos de inmediato!" Liara just shook her head again.

The AI just seemed to sigh and said something she did understand "Hello, my name is Helen. You are trespassing on our territory, Identify yourself immediately!"

Liara now understanding spook "My name is Liara T'Soni. I am an Asari on an archeological dig."

The AI's eyes softened and asked a question that puzzled Liara "Does humanity survive?" Liara just nodded her head. The AI then squeezed her hand into a fist and Liara blacked out.

Citadel

Shepard just exited the elevator with top tier armour and weapons to see Udina and Anderson standing next to the Normandy. She could already tell something was wrong.

Udina opened up the conversation with "I've got big news for you Shepard. Captain Anderson is stepping down as commanding officer of the the Normandy. The ship is your now."

"She's quick and quiet and you know the crew. Perfect ship for a Spectre," Anderson said "Treat her well, Commander."

Shepard just sighed and nodded "I will Anderson."

She then turned to Udina "Any leads?"

"Lead Commander just one. That Asari Benezia has a daughter, a scientist who specializes in Protheans. We don't know if she is involved but it might be good to find her. Se what she knows. Her name's Dr. Liara T'Soni. Our report say she was exploring an archeological dig on one of the uncharted worlds in the Artemis Tau cluster."

"I'll be on my way then. Udina, Anderson" Shepard nodded as she said their names and they parted before her letting her walk into the Normandy and start up the decontamination cycle.

"I heard what happened to Captain Anderson. Survives a hundred battles, and then gets taken down by backroom politics," said Joker the Normandy's pilot "Just watch your back Commander. Things go wrong on this mission, you're next on their chopping block."

"Saren's out there somewhere. And we are going to find him. And Joker open the comms I have a speech to make."

Joker turned with a bit of a smile"Got'cha, comms are open Commander dazzle everyone."

Shepard just leaned over the station "This is Commander Shepard speaking. We have our order: find Saren before he finds the conduit. I won't lie to you, crew. This mission isn't going to be easy. For too long our species has stood apart from others. Now it's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy! Time to show them what we humans are made of! Our enemy knows we're coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them, too. Humanity need to do this. Not Just for our own sake, but for the sake of every other species in Citadel Space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all... we will stop him!"

"Well said Commander. The Captain will be proud." Joker said the the end of the speech.

"The Captain gave up everything so I could have this chance. We can't fail."

" Yes sir"

"Ok Joker set a course for Artemus Tau cluster, we need to find a doctor."

"Copy that Commander Artemus Tau cluster plugged in and ready to go. We will get there in about two weeks"

Normandy

Shepard spent the next two weeks getting to know the crew. She pretty much knew who everyone was and how they would react to the stimuli of this war she was running.

Ashley was a stone cold killer with a xenophobe problem. 'Nothing I can't fix,' thought Shepard.

Garrus was your stereotypical loose cannon C-Sec officer. His problem might take long then Ashley's fix because he only believes in the stereotypes of every species. Shepard was wondering if every Turian was.

Tali was a bright and happy Quarian that was good at her job and with her shotgun. It made Shepard happy to know there was another combat engineer on the ship. The only person that really dislikes her is Garrus. 'Once again with the stereotypes,' Shepard thought while shaking her head.

Kaidan was a nice guy that doesn't really seem like he should be in the military. He had a heart that was soft. He was creepy too. The way he looks at her when she comes to talk.

Wrex was a fighter. He was breed for war. His biotic's where the strongest in the group and he was no afraid to take things up close and personal. HIs only problem was being unsociable but Shepard was sure that came from being a Krogan and being around 600 years old.

Shepard just sighed as she stepped in line to get her food. They needed more men to fight this. They needed another biotic and another soldier to round out the squad. Shepard took her lunch serving of rehydrated meat and flash frozen fruit. She gracefully walked over to the table. She ignored Kaidan's stares and sat next to Garrus.

"Hey Garr... "

"We are here Commander get your ground team ready."

"Sorry Garrus how about you come with me?"

"Eer, ok Shep."

Cryopods

Liara woke up to find herself locked up, well kind of. She was held aloft by her neck and hands by something. It was the weirdest thing it felt like nothing was there but when she tried to move her limbs but they wouldn't budge.

"Hard light," said Helen "It is what is restraining you yet you feel nothing. Don't try to break them, if a Spartan can't do it then you can't."

Liara just sat still and waited. Waited for her death, for the Geth to break through and kill her. She sat like this for awhile until she heard footsteps and voices at the door. 'This is it,' Liara thought 'This is how I die.' Then something ran across her mind, voices. The Geth don't need to speak!

"Help! I'm in here! Help!"

"They wont get inside you know. I have contr... Oh never mind there is a human. The chance to finally reconnect has come. I must wake John."

The AI turned around and put her and on the glass. Steam seemed to rise out of the pod as soon as she placed her hand on it.

"Wake up John, they need you, I need you."

That was when the door retracted.

Shepard thought the mission was going pretty damn good. No injures, fatalities or problems. That was before they dropped a damn Armature out of the sky.

"Hey Shepard are you getting the feeling that the Geth don't want us here?"

"Whats the matter Turian, afraid of the fight?"

"No. Just the odds suck thats all," Garrus shot back at Wrex

"Lock it down you idiots and help me kill this thing."

Shepard looked back at the Armature, they had picked off all of the Geth in the area. She saw and elevated position to the right and a way to slip past them to the left.

"Garrus, high right, sinpe after an overload. Wrex, middle, pop a barrier and launch a carnage. On my mark. Mark!"

Garrus rushed to the right in a full sprint, taking out his sniper rifle as he did. Wrex laughed heartily as he surrounded himself in a biotic barrier and pulled out his shotgun, firing a rocket at the Armature as he ran. Shepard sprinted left with all her energy just as she turned to corner she saw the shield flicker to half battery. Shepard immediately stuck her hand out and launched and overload and sabotage program.

The Armatures shields flickered and died. That was when a rampaging Krogan jumped up 3 feet and tackled the Armature. As they landed Wrex charged his hand in biotic force and slammed it into its flashlight. The flashlight shattered and coolant flooded out.

Wrex just laughed as he stood up "Ha Shepard you always find the best fights."

"Garrus get over here we move into the facility in five." Shepard held up five fingers to emphasize the point.

Shepard rounded everyone's weapons up as they took a break and loaded everyone with tungsten blocks and extra heat sinks. Shepard however loaded her pistol with cryo rounds and a recoil dampener. She handed everyone's guns back.

"Lets move."

The mining facility was anticlimactic at best. There where no Geth or any resistance. That didn't last long however as sudden feeling of strange set in. This happened as they entered the elevator to go down farther in to the dig.

"Uh Shep," said Garrus "This elevator is not in High Thesian or a translatable language."

Shepard just examined the controls. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

"It is in the ancient language, it's ancient human. This ruin isn't Prothean, it's ours."

"Shit just got weird Shepard," Wrex iterated for everyone

Shepard just pushed the down button on the elevator. When the door opened things only got weirder. The words UNSC was written on 6 banners lining the walls down the grand room. There where six doors: Armory, Cafeteria, Cryopods, Medical, Facilities and Engineering. There where Geth outside the door named Cryopods.

"Mow 'em down squad!" Shepard shouted. The Geth didn't last long enough to do anything, the tungsten rounds chewing through the Geth like hot butter.

Shepard secretly wished that there was no survivors in this tomb. If there was then there would be some problems. After what they did to mankind they deserved to die.

Shepard moved to the door and tried to remember everything they taught her in school. After she got the first few base word down decryption was easy. She thought she heard someone talking but drowned it out. She was in in 30 seconds. The door whooshed open to see there target Liara T'Soni suspended by blue beams of biotics. They also saw a woman dressed in white robes standing over a pod with steam pouring out of it and rolling across the floor.

That's when Liara shrieked "It's an AI shoot it!"

Wrex obliged the Asari. Then something happened that shocked everyone. A white 8' 5'' male dressed in form fitting black fell out of the cryopod. That is when the AI yelled.

"John!"

What happened next surprised everyone even more. Across the room everyone heard glass shatter and armour come flying by all connecting to the human named John.

Shepard had enough of this. He had shown them he was one of the ancient ones, one of the enslaving powers that wanted to end humanity.

"He is hostile!" She shouted "Kill him!"

Shepard got a weird look from Garrus and a battle cry from Wrex. That was enough to spur the Turian into action.

Bullets sprayed into the John figure, tech attacks hit him and biotics staggered him a little. Then he broke out in a sprint and in what seems like a flash he was upon them. John lashed out picking up Wrex by his neck and slamming him down into the ground. The slam had done a lot of damage, it cut through his shields, shattered his armour and fractured his crest. John then lifted a now unconscious Wrex one handed and threw the half ton Krogan at Garrus making them both land in a heap. John then turned to her.

Before Shepard could say anything John held out with his hand and picked her up with out touching her. Her cells sheered each other apart just like in a warp only it was her entire body and she was paralyzed. She wailed in pain and anger at her inability to fight it. She faintly remembered Garrus calling to her as blood rush out of her nose, mouth and ears from the attack. She heard a pleading voice and then a deep sigh. That is when she was dropped to the floor.

"Shepard!" Garrus wailed as he picked her up and rocked her in his arms. That is when she realized how much Garrus liked her. It was more then friendship that he felt for her. It was love. Then Garrus was roughly pulled away from her as blackness surrounded her vision and she fell into blissful unconsciousness.

**A/N I don't know how well I did but thank Mass Effect for the dialogue. I kinda tied two things up in one, I made a pairing and I had rear admiral John 117 kick everyones ass. The next chapter will answer a lot of your question that this chapter raised and the last one. Another important notice is that until I find someone to beta this or someone steps up this will be the last chapter! **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Arg! My beta is being slow. So Im posting this unBetaed once more. I hope you all enjoy and good luck in your school if you are in school. Anyways this still took entirely to long but I have most of the story planned out and yes plot armour is off so if I don't like a character or a lot of you don't then off with their head. Anyways time for me to stop bothering you.**

CH. 3 Awakening

Medical Bay

Shepard groaned as she tried to wake up. She faintly heard people yelling something. She was in too much pain to care, at least until the painkillers set in. Shepard sighed in relief as the painkillers coursed through her veins. Only now did she try to open her eyes.

Shepard sat up slowly with the help of Dr. Chakwas and tried to look around the room only for Garrus to block her way by hugging her "Welcome back." Shepard just blushed at his outburst, like she really cared what others thought. Besides Kaidan was creepy.

That's when she saw him over Garrus' shoulder. John. Shepard tried to get up but found that she was being restrained by Garrus and the good doctor. After a minute of struggling and yelling obscenities at him she finally relented from struggling and John walked over.

"I apologize for Shredding you," John's deep baritone voice filled the room. It was the voice of a leader, a voice that made you hope and respect him. It was an odd effect. John continued talking "But you where attacking the AI Helen and made yourselves enemies. Though I have a question, what happened to humanity?"

"What do you mean 'what happened?' you enslaved us under martial law. You left us to rot on the streets while your kind acted like everything was fine!"

"I have been in that cryopod for 7281 years. I don't know what happened."

Shepard just sighed. Captain Anderson taught her how to read someones eyes. From what she could tell he was telling the truth. Might as well fill him in if he was really that lost.

"From what the old holos tell us is that 4000 years ago we used to live in harmony. We just finished two wars with a mysterious alien race that little is know about and formed a council with them. Then about 3500 years ago we discovered new technology on a planet called Irendus, this was Mass Effect technology. This started a divide with the people, a majority embraced the new tech as is was cheap and most where poor. As the technology grew so did the peoples want for independance. The majority finally put up with the Few's tyranny fought back. From what little we know the war was long and bloody but the Few lost. They retreated back to some mysterious relics, never to be found again. Now days the Few are called the Ancient ones."

As Shepard finished her voice started to get raspy. The doctor left and returned with a cool class of water. Shepard took the glass appreciatively and started to sip the cool liquid. As she finished the glass she turned to John.

"So what are you doing here?" She asked

John simply shrugged and said "Someone had to carry that lizard here."

Shepard just laughed a bit at that. She turned to Dr. Chakwas. "Speaking of which where is Wrex?"

"Off slouching in the Cargo Hold I presume. He was cleared 10 hours ago. And before you ask you have been out 18 hours."

Shepard just shrugged and turned to John. She was needing a second soldier and she could tell that he was confused and needed some direction. He wasn't lying to her and he looked and acted like a soldier.

"Want to join us?" Shepard asked cooly

"What is your mission?"

"To stop Saren and prevent him from unleashing the Reapers."

"The Reapers?"

"Genocidal robots from dark space."

"I swore and oath to protect humanity from threats, both foreign and domestic. I may have been out of action for 7281 years but Humanity survives so the oath is valid. I pledge the service of both myself and Helen." Helen appeared over Johns shoulder as he said this and bowed. "I will be in the Cargo Hold if you need me."

Shepard wanted to ask a whole slew of questions but John spun on his heel and left, shutting the lift doors promptly. So she turned to the next best thing, Garrus.

"Why does he still have that AI and I need a sitrep on what happened after I passed out."

"Very well Commander," Garrus said

Garrus POV - 18 hours ago

"Come on Shep. Don't quit now," I said with a bit of a panic in my voice. It wasn't entirely my fault considering I was about to lose a commanding officer and a friend. I have grown close to Shepard over this last two weeks. _That and you keep look and at her long elegant fringe and wide supportive..._

No shut up. That voice has been haunting me for the last couple of days. My thoughts have been drifting from Commander Shepard the CO of the ship to being his XO in bed. NO I can't think like that.

Anyways I slumped on the ground cradling Shepard as her lifeblood fled from her body. I watched in horror as her eyes rolled back in her head and her entire body go limp.

"Shepard? Shepard? Stay with me. Spirits please take kindness on me."

"Move! Out of the way," directed a mountain of a man that was called John

"No I wont leave her. She is..."

"The commanding officer," John finished as he grabbed me by my armour's collar and threw me across the room.

Then John did something awkward. He held his hand over Shepard's face as what appeared to be gold beams of light came out of it. The lights swirled around her body and lifted her up.

"What did..."

"I do? I put her in stasis and injected a small amount of nanites into her blood stream. This will repair the most sever damage. The rest is up to your doctor. We need to move. I'll grab the lizard while you get the female. I also suggest you act on your feelings for your smell in getting worse."

I just stood there agape looking at the man like he grew eight heads which for all I knew he could. For his part he simply ignored it and threw Wrex over his shoulders like he as a sack of potatoes. John reached up over his shoulder with his hand and the armour's back split open to reveal a mass of what looked like broken parts. This would not last as the parts flew around and slid together amassing into a sleek yet blocky weapon that at open interfaces glowed a fierce red light. The weapon was hoisted one handed as the other held onto Wrex.

As for me I just drew my pistol that looked impossibly small next to John's rifle. I walked over to Shepard still golden light infused body and grabbed her. She felt impossibly light and I laid her over my shoulders completely unburdened by her weight. I looked at John and nodded as he walked up to Liara and waved his hand in front of her.

Liara fell to the ground with a satisfying thud and a groan. She immediately stood up and hit John across the face with a biotic infused punch flinging John's head to the side.

"Are you done yet ma'am?" He asked

"Maybe," She said threateningly

John just waved his hand over in her direction and she fell unconscious to the ground. John then just walked over a threw her on top of Wrex. I made a mental note to rib Wrex for it later.

John then walked up to the doors leading out to the Grand Hall until he was around 3 inches from it. I was weird he just stood there like a statue of metal and death before he raised his hand and touched the door and calmly walked out. I just stood there for a second trying to figure it out before I simply shrugged before following him, Shepard still across my back.

The Grand Hall was busy per say. I immediately pouring rounds down range until the weapon's sink over heated then took cover behind one of the many pillars scattered around the room. Bullets whizzed by at hypersonic speeds taking of the outer layer of well plaster was the best guess.

John was already ahead of me setting down Wrex and Liara till they rested on the floor. I followed his lead and set Shepard down behind cover.

After this process was done John stood back up and walked out in the open letting his shields absorb the hit. I thought he looked like a tank and the geth might as well have been flinging paperclips at him for all it was worth.

What really threw me off was his rifle. I watched as the lights got brighter then half a second later dulled as what sounded like a thunder storm clapped through the Grand Hall. A red beam of light exited the gun and connected with the geth he was targeting. I watched as shields failed and armour melt first shot.

What was worst was that John looked surprised that it killed in one shot but didn't let that stop him. He just stood there and blocked all the shots absorbing their fire until finally his shields popped, only he didn't mov back into cover. Instead more shields appeared over him to keep the hypersonic grains of plasma from burning him or puncturing the suit. 20 more burning red beams cut through the air and melted the geth. The entire time the room sounded of a thunderstorm and started to smell like ozone.

The battle field was clear but John didn't walk back to our downed teammate. Instead he walked to the one Shepard named Armoury. I followed him in and was not prepared for what I saw.

Rows upon rows of weapon. Everything from the rifle John had to what looked like a Widow Anti material rifle. Everything was labeled in Ancient but it was fine. In any case I could tell the basic weapon types, there were pistols, SMG, rifles, sniper rifles, and heavy weapons, and John pocketed one of everything.

Then at the end of the rows was a simple terminal on the wall. John reached out and typed in several codes, klaxons sounded and a small chip appeared from the side of the terminal. John reached out and shoved the silver rectangle into the back of his head.

"Are we done?" I asked the imposing figure

"Quite," he replied in his emotionless baritone voice

After that he just walked out. That is when I noticed that his foot steps didn't make a sound and his actions where fluid. Here was an automaton encased in metal that somehow never made a sound. It was intimidating to say the least.

Upon exiting the Armoury we found that somehow our mutual friends the geth have smuggled down a geth Armature. Expecting a long and drawn out fight I slid into cover. However that was not the case. John just shouldered a large box. He just stood there for three seconds the entire time the Armature was pouring rounds into him. This entire time however was a charging time because this is when a violet beam reached out and hit the Armature in the flashlight optical.

The Armature collapsed to the ground and john threw the weapon off his shoulder. Sprinting to the elevator and hurdling over the Armature into the shaft. John punched in the code to the elevator to go to the top floor.

The ride to the top was... uneasy to say the least. The ground rumbling and quaking didn't help much either. One of the codes John put in must have started this I thought as the ground shook again.

"What's happening?"

"Self-destruct protocol, leave nothing for the enemy."

I just nodded with an absent mind. This old version of humanity is so much different I thought. They operated on a bases of total war. It was a question of why did they have to operate like this. Did the reapers come before?

My thought process was interrupted by reaching the top. Lava and liquid sulfur erupted from the ground and rock split to spew toxic black ash. I sprinted for all I was worth jumping over the splits in the ground and ducking under magma drips and ran up the ramp. I could tell the extra weight was slowing down John because he was side by side with him.

Upon exiting the lift I felt myself go rigid and weightless as I saw the Normandy. I bay opened as I got propelled into it. I saw Wrex get thrown in and then Liara. Finally I watched as John turned back as he spun on his heel and walked down the ramp.

I yelled out his name as he turned back to the Normandy and assumed a running position as blinked. And he was landing on the loading bay in the mist of the rest of the Normandy crew minus Joker. John just looked at the abeyant stares as he walked over Shepard and raised his hand and the gold lights surrounding her body disappeared.

She was still light as I felt her collapse into my arms as I walked to the elevator and John pressed the button. The elevator rose up and John looked around.

"This the fastest it goes? For all your achievements you still haven't mastered elevators?"

"Yeah it's annoying."

"It wont be as funny if she dies."

I turned to John and watched his helmet split apart and stored into his back with his weapons. Standing next to him I could examine his face. He looked impossibly young but you could tell he was old. He had small wrinkles out of the corners of his eyes and they where devoid of emotion. His skin was ghastly white and lost any suppleness that came with youth.

The elevator opened and John followed me into the medical bay as I set her down and Dr. Chakwas walked in. She immediately set he coffee down as she rush to my side and started asking me question as she scanned Shepard. I didn't answer any of them as she pushed me out of the way. I faintly remembered John leaving and coming back with Wrex and set him down on the bed next to Shepard and Liara taking refuge in the room behind the medical bay.

I just sat there and watched as Chakwas said things like "similar to a warp" and "affected soft tissues".


End file.
